“But the general left the army.”
“Yes, he is an active man; he couldn’t stand the piping times of peace that followed the Mexican war, and, resigning his commission, went to California, where he became a farmer. This didn’t agree very well with his constitution, and when a speck of war appeared in 1861, he hastened to Washington; not as an adventurer, mind you, but as a man who believed in the American Union. Somehow the men in authority seemed to have forgotten about his conduct in Mexico; and it may be that some of his positive opinions were remembered, and he did not readily procure service.
“Discouraged, and perhaps disgusted, with his ill success, he made up his mind to return to his farm on the Pacific. Before his intended departure he paid his respects to President Lincoln, to whom he made some comments on the battle of Bull Run, which induced the president to make him a brigadier. That was the luckiest thing for the general, and the luckiest thing for the country, that ever came out of an accident.”
“That’s so!” exclaimed De Banyan, with emphasis. “I’ve seen him in a great many fights; and I say he has no superior in the army.”
“I’m not very fond of comparisons between generals; but I can say I like him better than any other,” added Somers. “I wish generals were not so sensitive.”
“Sensitive? My dear Somers, a man can no more be a great general without being sensitive, than he can be a parson without being pious.”
“That may be; but I think that some of the military operations of the war have failed because the commanding general in charge of them was not fairly supported, owing to some of these squabbles about rank.”
“That’s true; but there’s a great difference between being sensitive, and failing to obey orders, in spirit as well as to the letter. ‘Fighting Joe’ never did and never will allow his sensitiveness to endanger for one moment the success of our arms,” said the engineer, warmly. “He would fight under a corporal rather than lose the day, any time.”
“I know that,” answered Somers; “but I can’t help feeling that if some generals had been less sensitive, our general would have been in command of a large army to-day.”
“A positive man speaks what he thinks; and I doubt not ‘Fighting Joe’ has often offended his superiors by his candid criticisms. This may have affected his position, but it cannot rob him of the glory of the past. Whatever he does, and wherever he goes, I’m with him to the end,” added the engineer.